Didier Plantecoste, head of the MRTT program at Airbus, says the allied tanker program is wooing new European customers in “the South.”

In an era when NATO gets slammed on a regular basis by President Trump, there’s one key alliance success — the ability of 29 countries to work together on the battlefield.

WASHINGTON: Over the past month, US Air Forces in Europe took delivery of their largest shipment of ordnance in two decades. It’s another sign of the rearming of the continent as the United States pushes troops and equipment back into the region after years of drawing down, even as its NATO allies — and increasingly,… Keep reading →

Fresh from the drama of Brussels, Defense Secretary Mattis visited NATO allies across Europe to preach stability, forward progress, and friendship. He remains a popular figure on the continent, but rumblings from Washington have the NATO alliance concerned.

As the president prepares to head to Europe to meet both NATO and Putin, his administration is taking pains to keep expectations low, and portray a ‘steady as she goes’ attitude to both summits.

WASHINGTON: If he were a European, Sen. John McCain would have a field day critiquing how Europe’s governments buy weapons. Imagine if each of the 50 united states fielded its own military. That, to a large degree, is what happens in Europe, and the waste and duplication that result are staggering. The 28 countries of the… Keep reading →

PENTAGON: The Pentagon giveth, and the Pentagon taketh away. While the Defense Department is shrinking or shuttering roughly 30 facilities across Europe, the real story isn’t a downsizing: It’s a shift. Even as the US consolidates facilities in Western Europe — some of which date to World War II — it’s building up infrastructure in Eastern Europe to contain the… Keep reading →